Sustainability of corundum-type Cr2O3 nanoparticles at shock wave loaded conditions

Abstract This research work probes into the crystallographic and magnetic phase stability of Corundum-type Cr2O3 nanoparticles (Cr2O3 NPs) at shock wave loaded conditions. The Chromium Oxide nanoparticles were prepared by precipitation method and loaded with shock pulses of counts 50, 100 and 150 having Mach number 2.2. The control and shocked Cr2O3 NPs were analyzed by studying the data of structural, optical and magnetic properties which were observed through analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer. Based on the analyzed diffraction and spectroscopic measurements, it is clear that the test sample undergoes neither crystallographic nor magnetic phase transitions at shocked conditions and hence it could be considered as a high shock-resistant material and the results of static high-pressure compression also support the consideration. The obtained results reveal that Cr2O3 NPs have outstanding shock resistant behavior as compared to a few other important metal oxides such as TiO2, Co3O4 and α-Fe2O3 NPs. Hence, the title material is suggested for the aerospace device fabrication because of its outstanding structural stability against the impact of shock waves.